FedDev Ontario announces new programs

Peter Braid, MP for Kitchener-Waterloo, was on campus yesterday morning to make announcements on behalf of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, or FedDev Ontario.

The Waterloo Region Record reports that the university's graduate enterprise internship program received nearly $1.4 million to help place up to 109 recent graduates in internships with small and medium-sized enterprises in Ontario.

In addition, FedDev Ontario and the University of Waterloo are jointly sponsoring up to 20 commercialization fellowships to help recent graduates and new alumni commercialize an innovation and start a business.

The Ontario Science and Engineers in Business Commercialization Fellowship will provide $60,000 one-year fellowships for up to 20 Waterloo graduates or recent alumni (graduates who earned their last Waterloo degree within five years) of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs who want to commercialize their innovations and start high-tech businesses.

Braid also announced additional funding for Shad Valley International, which provides summer enrichment opportunities for high school students in partnership with Canadian universities.

Braid is pictured above with Mary Hamoodi, Shad Valley International's Director of Finance and Operations, Kerry Mahoney, the Director for the Centre for Career Action, Co-operative Education and Career Action, and Dr. George Dixon, Vice-President, University Research. Photo by Chris Hughes, ELED Photography.

With the support of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario

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Living the suite life at Columbia Lake Village

by Bronwyn Forbes, Co-ordinator, Marketing and Communications, Housing and Residences

All co-op students are familiar with the housing stress that comes each time they land a new co-op placement - relocating for four months, trying to find a short lease and scrambling to find a subletter. For Rebecca Lalonde, her key to success is living in residence each term, while on co-op or in school.

Rebecca is a 4A student studying Combinatorics and Optimization and is currently on co-op with the Math Faculty Computing Facility at uWaterloo. She is a developer for a program called Maple TA — an online database of math questions designed to assist students with extra questions related to their specific math course.

When Rebecca landed this job she thought, what could be more convenient than living on campus and being a 10 minute walk from work? She has lived in residence since her first year and is now in her 5th term living at Columbia Lake Village-South (Waterloo Residences’ townhouse community). Rebecca acknowledges that the conveniences of living on campus have allowed her to succeed in both school and her job. “I spend less time commuting and it’s just a short walk to meet up with classmates to work on a group project or to visit a professor if I need extra help."

On top of the convenience, Rebecca also loves the community vibe that’s created in residence. Every Sunday the students convene in her Don’s townhouse to hang out and enjoy homemade treats, freshly baked by her Don that day.

What about the cost? She says it’s totally worth it. She doesn’t have to deal with the emotions associated with landlords or finding a sublet, dealing with maintenance concerns such as plumbing, or worrying about things like having Internet set up – it’s all done for her.

She also appreciates the lump sum payment – she pays her fees once and doesn’t have to worry about arranging payment with someone every month. For Rebecca, the conveniences outweigh the cost, which, when you break it down, isn’t that much different to off campus anyway.

Rebecca encourages other co-op students to explore the possibility of living on campus. Whether you’re living there for work or school, you’ll experience a strong sense of community tailored to upper-years, independence, and a quality of living that’s hard to find off campus.

Upper-year spaces are still available in Waterloo Residences for the spring 2012 term (one-term contract) and fall 2012 term (two-term contract for fall 2012 and spring 2013). Applications are available from the Housing website.

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Thursday's notes

"We had a full house at the City of Stratford Auditorium Tuesday night for the first Family Night for the Global Business and Digital Arts program," writes Jodi Szimanski of the Stratford Campus, "and several others watching the livestream feed from as far away as Halifax, Nova Scotia."

In addition to information about the program, a panel of four digital media experts with a variety of backgrounds discussed career opportunities in this exciting new field. The panelists included Michael Schmalz, President of Digital Extremes, a pioneer in the videogame industry; Bob Barlow-Bush, a user experience designer and partner at ArtBarn, a boutique venture services group; Josh Wright, Manager of Strategic Initiatives at the Accelerator Centre; a world-renowned, award-winning centre for the cultivation of technology entrepreneurship; and Hillary Abel, Downtown Marketing and Program Coordinator, City of Kitchener, and founder of “qatalyst” an arts and culture magazine for Waterloo region, and most recently organizer of a collaborative art show on moving train titled “The Steel Rail Sessions”.

"All the panelists talked about combining passions in the digital media industry whether it was technology and creativity, or in Wright’s case, technology and business, and each one said they wished a program like this existed when they were students," writes Szimanski. "Barlow-Bush said it best: Be a T-shaped person. Understand a breadth of things, and then go into depth in one area. That, we think, best explains what the Global Business and Digital Arts undergraduate program will do."

A team of Waterloo students is among the five finalists in the 2012 RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge, the winner of which will be announced at the RBC Next Great Innovation Challenge Awards Gala, taking place tonight at the RBC Plaza on Bay Street in Toronto, starting at 5:00 p.m. "Now in its sixth year, this year's Challenge asked university and college students across the country to propose an innovation that will change the way financial services help Canadians manage their finances," says the event's media advisory.

More than 20 post-secondary institutions participated, and the submissions were then narrowed down to five finalist teams: three from Queen's University, one team from the University of Waterloo, and one from the Rotman School of Management.

In addition to receiving a cash prize, students from the five finalist teams will be given the chance to interview with an RBC recruiter. The winning team will receive $20,000, the second place team will receive $10,000, and the three other finalist teams will receive $5,000.

The university community is invited to a special Mid-Cycle Review campus update being held on February 29 at 3:30 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre featuring a presentation by president Feridun Hamdullahpur. The event is being webcast and will be projected on screens in the Student Life Centre Great Hall. Stay tuned for more information about the event in the coming days.

Several retired staff members have died in recent days, the human resources department reports. Ruth Ann Werth, who died December 19, was a food services assistant in Village I from 1977 to her retirement in 2004. Camilo Afonso, who died December 24, was a custodian in the plant operations department from 1981 to his retirement in 1993. Myrtle Smith, who died January 10, was a housekeeper in Ron Eydt Village from 1969 to her retirement in 1980.

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